October 20, 2019
His name was Dietrich Bonhoeffer. German pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, writer, martyr. For taking a stand against Hitler, he was hanged on April 9, 1945 in the Flossenburg concentration camp.
These are his words:
I’ve had a remarkable life. I seem to be in such good places at the right time. If you were to ask me to sum up my life in one word it would be: gratitude.
Gratitude, said Cicero, is the parent of all virtues. I wonder, given the example of Bonhoeffer, if gratitude gives birth to guts, to courage, to resilience, to unselfishness.
The practice of thankfulness is certainly the antidote for an attitude of entitlement. May God deliver us from that current cultural attitude and free us to see that every breath, every opportunity, every blessing has been given to us by God’s amazing grace. Not for hoarding, but for service.
